Kauffman Foundation gives nearly $200,000 to Missouri Business Alert

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has given a grant of nearly $200,000 to Missouri Business Alert, a business news service run by the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism.

With the $190,700 grant, students working for Missouri Business Alert will travel more to report on underreported business and entrepreneurial stories. The grant will pay for student salaries, as well as transportation and lodging costs.

Missouri Business Alert will also partner with the Kauffman Foundation to provide paid fellowship opportunities for students. The fellows will work with the public affairs and communications team at Kauffman to develop entrepreneurial stories.

This is the third round of funding Missouri Business Alert has received from Kauffman since 2016.

“We are pleased to help the Missouri Business Alert continue to expand its coverage in underserved communities while also strengthening its business model,” said Larry Jacob, vice president of public affairs at the Kauffman Foundation, in a statement. “Telling the stories of entrepreneurs, especially in underserved communities, is vital to helping reverse the long-term decline in entrepreneurship by giving people a better understanding of how anyone with an idea can make it an economic reality with commitment and by tapping into supportive networks.”

Missouri Business Alert was started in 2012 by Randall D. Smith, the Donald W. Reynolds Chair of Business Journalism, and his students.